Immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer awarded Best New Concept

New research into the potential benefit of immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer patients has been recognised at the AGITG’s Annual Scientific Meeting.

Dr Lorraine Chantrill was awarded the Best New Concept Award at the meeting’s New Concepts Symposium for the concept titled: A pilot feasibility and discovery study of neoadjuvant FOLFIRINOX followed by immunotherapy for resectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

This study was investigating the potential of giving chemotherapy before surgery to improve outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients. Pancreatic cancer currently has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers. Just 8.7% of patients survive for more than five years after their initial diagnosis.

“There is a desperate need for better treatments for pancreatic cancer and I am proud that my concept has been acknowledged as a valuable contribution to research in this area,” Dr Chantrill says. “I am thankful to the AGITG and our donor supporters and look forward to developing this concept further.”

The New Concepts Symposium is sponsored by independent biopharmaceutical company Specialised Therapeutics, in a key demonstration of its commitment to cancer research and the development of new therapeutics that may change lives.

The Symposium featured four excellent new presentations of embryonic research concepts. After each concept was presented, AGITG members asked questions to each presenter and voted on the feasibility of each. As part of the AGITG research development pathway, each concept can be submitted to the Working Parties for review and further development.

“Every scientific breakthrough begins with a single idea,” says Carlo Montagner, the Chief Executive Officer of Specialised Therapeutics Australia. “New concepts are the first step in changing patient outcomes. We are proud to sponsor the New Concepts Symposium and look forward to seeing this promising research further investigated, so that one day, it may change lives.”